Significant developments in communications have been made by the introduction of technologies that increase system operating efficiency (i.e., system “throughput”). One example of these technologies is the use of two or more transmit antennas and two or more receive antennas (i.e., multiple antennas) in a wireless communication system. Such systems are typically referred to as multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) communication systems. In contrast, traditional wireless communication systems typically employ one transmit antenna and one receive antenna, and such systems are referred to accordingly as single-input, single-output (SISO) systems.
In addition, traditional communication systems typically use one of two types of signal carrier systems. One such system uses only one carrier for the transmission of information and is known as a single carrier (SC) system. A system that uses multiple carriers to transmit information in parallel is known as a multi-carrier (MC) system. MC systems divide the existing bandwidth into a number of sub-channel bandwidths and each bandwidth is modulated individually by a respective sub-carrier. The method of dividing the bandwidth into sub-channel bandwidths is referred to as frequency division multiplexing (FDM). Therefore, either SISO or MIMO communications may use a SC or an MC signal carrier system.
In a MIMO communication system, signals are typically transmitted over a common path (i.e., channel) by multiple antennas. The signals are typically pre-processed to avoid interference from other signals in the common channel. There are several techniques that may be used to pre-process the signals in this regard, and some of these techniques may be combined to further improve system throughput. One such technique, known as space-time processing (STP), processes and combines “preamble structures” and “data structures” into groups referred to herein as “frame structures.” Wireless communication systems typically transmit data, or information (e.g., voice, video, audio, text, etc.), as formatted data symbols (or information symbols), which are typically organized into groups referred to herein as data structures. The preamble structure contains an overhead for providing synchronization and parameter estimation, allowing a receiver to decode signals received from a transmitter. In a MIMO communication system, multiple frame structures are transmitted by a corresponding number of transmit antennas. The combination of the multiple frame structures is generally referred to space-time signal structures. Each frame structure generally includes a preamble structure followed by a data structure.
Training symbols are typically added as prefixes to the data structures (e.g., at the beginning of frame structure) to enable training (i.e., time and frequency synchronization) between the transmitter and receiver of a MIMO communication system. These training symbols can be referred to as preambles and are part of the preamble structures. Space-time signal structures are constructed using STP for training symbols and data symbols individually. Furthermore, pilot structures (or pilots) are symbols that are also constructed by STP and have the same structure as preambles. However, instead of being placed as a prefix to the data structure, the pilot structures are periodically arranged within groups of data symbols. Certain properties incorporated into space-time signal structures make it possible to recover the data structures by post-processing the space-time signal structures with a receiver. Moreover, the formation and processing of space-time signal structures in a wireless communication system may provide increased strength (i.e., gain) in the recovered signal, which typically enhances the performance of the communication system.
Another technique that may be used to pre-process signals in a MIMO communication system is FDM as mentioned earlier. FDM involves dividing the frequency spectrum of a wireless communication system into sub-channels and transmitting modulated data, or information (i.e., formatted signals for voice, video, audio, text, etc.), over these sub-channels at multiple signal carrier frequencies (“sub-carrier frequencies”).
Communication systems involving orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) have emerged as a popular form of FDM in which the sub-carrier frequencies are spaced apart by precise frequency differences. The application of the OFDM technology in a SISO communication system (i.e., a SISO OFDM system) provides the capability, among others, to efficiently transmit and receive relatively large amounts of information. The application of OFDM in a MIMO communication system (i.e., a MIMO OFDM system) increases the system's capacity to transmit and receive information using approximately the same amount of bandwidth (i.e., transmission line capacity) as used in a SISO OFDM systems. A MIMO OFDM communication system also offers improved performance to overcome some of the difficulties experienced in other FDM communication systems, such as performance degradation due to multiple versions of a transmitted signal being received over various transmission paths (i.e., multi-path channel interference).
In SISO and MIMO wireless communication systems, synchronization of data symbols is typically required in both the time domain and the frequency domain. Estimation of parameters such as noise variance and other channel parameters is also typically required. Thus, an efficient preamble structure for use in wireless communication systems should provide both synchronization and parameter estimation. Furthermore, an efficient preamble structure should possess a low peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) (i.e., at or approaching unity) to facilitate efficient system operation.
In their application to SISO and MIMO communication systems, however, various shortcomings have been identified in existing preamble structures. For example, the IEEE Standard 802.11a preamble structure includes a short sequence, which provides time synchronization and coarse frequency offset estimation, followed by a long sequence, which provides fine frequency and channel estimation. Although this preamble has application to SISO communication systems, it is not directly applicable to a MIMO communication system to provide the above mentioned functions, without the need for significant modifications. Moreover, there is considerable redundancy in the IEEE Standard 802.11a preamble structure, which reduces the system throughput and hence the system efficiency.
Therefore, there is a need for an efficient preamble structure that provides time and frequency synchronization, estimation of parameters such as noise variance and channel parameters, and low PAPR when used with SISO and MIMO communication systems.